Christos Tsaravas to lead Swiss business expansion for Manulife Asset Management

Industry Veteran Brings Nearly Two Decades Of Experience In Key European Market

ZURICH, May 21, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of its ongoing European expansion effort, Manulife Asset Management (MAM) has named Christos Tsaravas as Managing Director and Head of Distribution for Switzerland.

He will be responsible for leading business development in the Swiss market, including introducing the full range of MAM's public and private markets capabilities to clients across the institutional and wholesale spaces in this key European country.

Manulife AM (Switzerland) LLC recently obtained its securities registration from FINMA, Switzerland's independent financial-markets regulator, enabling operations as a regulated distributor of collective investment funds there.

Mr. Tsaravas, whose appointment is effective immediately, will report to Marco Zanuso, Head of Distribution, EMEA, and will be based in the newly opened Zurich office.

"We are delighted that Christos has joined the team to help build the business as well as to manage and grow the local team. Christos has an excellent reputation and relationships in the Swiss market," said Mr. Zanuso. "His experience and local knowledge will help us to better meet the needs of our clients and further drive our expansion in Europe."

Mr. Tsaravas, who has nearly two decades of experience in the Swiss market, was previously with Deutsche Asset Management where he served as Director, Head of Institutional Clients, Switzerland. Prior to that, he was with Man Group plc as Managing Director, Head of Institutional Clients, Switzerland. He has extensive experience in public markets, hedge funds and real assets.

Mr. Tsaravas said he expects MAM's actively managed traditional asset classes will be attractive in the region.

He also sees growing demand for liquid alternatives as well as private market capabilities including real estate, infrastructure, timber and farmland.

"Manulife Asset Management has strong capabilities across the investment spectrum and we see tremendous opportunities to meet client needs in the Swiss market," he said.

About Manulife Asset Management
Manulife Asset Management is the global asset management arm of Manulife Financial Corporation ("Manulife"). We provide comprehensive asset management solutions for investors across a broad range of public and private asset classes, as well as asset allocation solutions. We also provide portfolio management for affiliated retail Manulife and John Hancock product offerings.

Our investment expertise includes public and private equity and fixed income, real estate and infrastructure equity and debt, timberland and farmland, oil and gas, and mezzanine debt. We operate in the United States, Canada, Brazil, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, as well as through a China joint venture, Manulife TEDA. We also serve investors in select European, Middle Eastern, and Latin American markets.

As at March 31, 2018, assets under management for Manulife Asset Management were approximately C$508 billion (US$394 billion, GBP£281 billion, EUR€320 billion). Additional information may be found at ManulifeAM.com.

About Manulife
Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services group that helps people make their decisions easier and lives better. We operate primarily as John Hancock in the United States and Manulife elsewhere. We provide financial advice, insurance, as well as wealth and asset management solutions for individuals, groups and institutions. At the end of 2017, we had about 35,000 employees, 73,000 agents, and thousands of distribution partners, serving more than 26 million customers. As of March 31, 2018, we had over $1.1 trillion (US$850 billion) in assets under management and administration, and in the previous 12 months we made $26.9 billion in payments to our customers. Our principal operations are in Asia, Canada and the United States where we have served customers for more than 100 years. With our global headquarters in Toronto, Canada, we trade as 'MFC' on the Toronto, New York, and the Philippine stock exchanges and under '945' in Hong Kong.

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